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Educators and policymakers find themselves under the microscope on how to use billions of dollars in pandemic relief aid, which could become a bigger political issue in the coming months.
As censorship from politicians, media, advocacy groups, researchers, and others, individual school districts are increasingly the subject of attention, from pandemic relief to critical racial theories and equity-focused programs in schools. . It extends to Washington, where lawmakers have recently pressured federal officials for the amount of assistance and its help.
Questions about how schools use COVID assistance funds — and whether they spend them fast enough — can be traced back to the early days of the CARES Act in early 2020. Examples of the use of pandemic aid in sports facilities in some areas have aroused suspicion. Over time, there have been more and more questions and calls for the overall transparency of pandemic K-12 assistance. California's auditors called for more oversight of schools' use of $24 billion in relief funds. Relatively high-profile decisions, such as switching to distance learning, even temporary decisions that have been supported by the community during the surge in COVID cases may raise suspicions as to why the current funds are not enough to keep children in the classroom.
In recent months, US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona has repeatedly emphasized the importance of safely resuming face-to-face learning and how COVID funds can support such efforts.
Some lawmakers have been harsh and outspoken about how they view COVID education relief measures.
Rep. Burgess Owens of Utah told U.S. Department of Education officials during the House of Representatives education on November 17: "The Democratic Party’s radical spending spree should not be seen as anything other than frantically trying to get political points through the teachers’ union. "Subcommittee hearing. "Democrats have little interest in the way these funds are used and whether they have achieved any of the intended purposes." (Owens is a ranking member of the subcommittee.)
This review may intersect with the new “Parental Rights Act” bill proposed by Republicans in Congress. After Glenn Youngin’s victory in the Virginia governor’s race, they asked teachers and school leaders to pay attention to the interests of related courses and libraries. Decisions are more transparent, as well as other matters, including budgets. If the Republican Party controls one or both houses of Congress after the 2022 midterm elections, it may promote Capitol Hill hearings and other oversight activities.
Georgetown University professor Norah Gordon said after studying the potential impact of federal virus relief on school-related expenses related to COVID Follow up quickly as to whether the funds for the epidemic should be redirected elsewhere.
"If a school district does not provide plausible services or services to respond to COVID at any time, and then say that they have no money, people should ask,'Oh, well, what did you spend ESSER money on? ?'"she says.
However, when deciding how to use aid funds to alleviate COVID and help students recover in academic and other areas, school district leaders should actively advocate the flexibility granted to them by the law, said Noel Elerson Wu, deputy executive director of AASA.
She said: “Every time I talk to my supervisor, I am emphasizing, first, the legal expectations and inherent flexibility” to provide COVID assistance. Ellerson Ng added that, generally speaking, within a reasonable range, "if it is not prohibited, it is allowed."
In an exchange with Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten at the House Subcommittee hearing, Republicans also expressed concern about the funding of the historical education department and the Biden administration’s attitude towards the rights of transgender students. Jim Banks of R-Ind. pressured her on why people should feel confident about the benefits of all COVID assistance. "How do parents know that the COVID relief fund has had a positive impact on their children?" He asked at one point.
Marten pointed to the department's website, which provided COVID-19 relief data on K-12 and higher education. Marten told lawmakers that this and other regional monitoring of spending "provides clear and transparent information to everyone, enables them to obtain this information, and ensures that the U.S. dollar is used in the intended way."
If, as many expected, Republicans control one or both houses of Congress after the 2022 midterm elections, the sentiments of Owens, Banks, and others may promote widespread federal oversight of schools and relief funds.
The Democrats are not opposed to raising this issue. The chairman of the House Education Committee and Representative Bobby Scott of Virginia told Marten that he believes that if the Department of Education identifies areas where COVID relief funds are wasted, it will tell the media about those areas.
"States and territories have a lot of resources to know how to use funds in the expected way," Marten said.
Ellerson Ng said that the superintendent should carefully consider and make decisions based on the background of the students rather than the interests of adults. For example, if a school spends money on new sports facilities, she said, leaders should emphasize how the use of funds in this way can improve children’s physical and mental health and help students build a society after the pandemic has a negative impact on these issues. connect. In addition, she pointed out that if needed, building more infrastructure for sports and other projects can help schools keep their distance from society.
Ellerson Ng said: "As an administrator, you have a responsibility to make a decision, but you also have a responsibility to communicate this decision to the school community." "Even if they are not bought, help them understand."
Some education advocates worry that the school’s failure to always maintain transparency and productive interaction with parents and others on their response to the pandemic (including their use of relief funds) has caused public concern and has led to The political consequences.
Emerging research on this issue generally includes how much education and other child-centered programs have received in pandemic relief; how unprecedented this expenditure is; and when it can begin to weaken.
According to a study published by the Urban Institute on November 17, legislation passed in response to the pandemic will increase spending on schools, nutrition, childcare, and other programs that benefit children by $600 billion between 2020 and 2027 . Senior researcher Julia B. Isaacs and researcher Cary of the Urban Institute write that this increase exceeds the annual federal government expenditure on children before the pandemic.
The Urban Research Institute report predicts that the education stabilization fund (including ESSER and other funds) in school epidemic spending will reach a peak of US$51 billion in 2022. However, Isaacs and Lu pointed out that spending on children has increased by $600 billion. A small portion of the $5 trillion pandemic expenditure in the Federal Relief Act.
Washington's rescue plan does not mean that all schools are (and will) be oversaturated. Gordon and UCLA Associate Professor Sarah Reberes' research on paying for COVID estimates that even when the pandemic is relieved, 85% of areas with a low proportion of poor students will face A budget gap of $200 per student. In terms of pandemic relief, there are significant differences between regions, with some leaders reporting that their regions completely missed some aid packages.
The surge in federal funding for pandemic-driven education and other child-centered programs, as well as criticism and suspicion of how they are used, may soon exceed the scope of the relief issued by the Urban Research Institute.
On the one hand, if the "Better Rebuild Act" currently under consideration by Congress is signed into law by President Joe Biden, billions of dollars will be spent on childcare, preschool, child nutrition, and other programs that benefit school-age children. About in the next ten years.
More narrowly speaking, Democrats in the House and Senate are considering budget proposals for fiscal year 2022, which may more than double the approximately $16.5 billion spent on Title I this year for disadvantaged students, which will further promote the development of relatively poor areas .
The legislators behind these proposals stated that additional funding for Title I and other educational programs will help reduce the impact of the pandemic on student academic performance and well-being.
It remains to be seen when legislators will pass the budget and whether this substantial increase will continue in the coming year.